Dreamer
by Wolfboy245
Summary: (working on possible title change) After Keitaro leaves, shiobu doesnt think anyone can make her feel the way he did. She finds she is sorely mistaken.
1. Default Chapter

Well this is quite the first for me. Not only have I never written a Love Hina fic before, but I've also never written a fic that centers around a love story, much less two (besides the love of the two main characters there is also a minor story you'll find out later). Usually I center the story around a battle, or a great conflict, but being the aesome author that I am, I'm sure it'll be no problem. So here's the first chapter.

Chapter 1: Dream Boy 

****

It had been a month or so since Naru and Keitaro had left to be on their own, and Shinobu was smiling even less than usual. They had gone away to do god-knows-what, probably get their own place, eventually get married, Shinobu didn't know what and nor did she care. She knew they were in love, and Shinobu didn't hold it against either of them, but she couldn't help being depressed. When Keitaro was around, she felt so confident, so alive. Now that he was gone , she didn't think anyone could ever make her feel the way he did.

Walking up to school, Su and Motoko who were walking with her, and had noticed this.

"Cheer up Shinobu!" insisted Su.

"Yeah," agreed Motoko "I haven't seen you happy since Keitaro left. You don't miss him do you?"

Shinobu nodded "I'm sorry, I can't help it."

Motoko sighed "I admit he did have his good points, but he's a man! And who needs men? Learn to live off your own steam."

The bell rang, and just before they were about to head to their designated classes, they were surrounded by a bunch of seniors.

"Excuse me," Shinobu said quietly "You're in my way."

Amused by her feeble attempts at kindness, they just laughed and pushed her shoulder.

Motoko stepped forward, hand on her sword "You'd do best to move aside."

"What's a junior doing hanging out with a bunch of kids?" one of the seniors teased "Come hang out with us."

"Hey, what is that supposed to mean?" Su said resentfully.

"Shut up!" one of the seniors pushed Su.

"That does it….you were warned!" Motoko drew her sword "Secret technique wind splitting sword!" the seniors fell over, and in turn got up and took off running.

"You know Shinobu, I'm not always gonna be around, you're gonna have to learn to defend yourself."

Shinobu looked up concerned "Don't say that! I can't imagine having to defend myself without you around!"

In lue of this comment, Su decided to completely change the subject "Wow Motoko! I cannot believe they actually let you take that thing to school!"

Motoko seemed somewhat agitated "First of all, it's not a 'thing', it's my sword, and I hold it very dear to me. Second of all, they don't , but you think I'll leave home for a minute without it? There are some dangerous people out there."

And at that, Motoko's class was coming up, so she departed, and they all went to their designated classes.

School was just as boring as always, and it was difficult for Shinobu to stay focused. She didn't understand much of what her teachers said and she didn't really care. Her grades had dropped, but they were enough to pass. She had no motivation anymore, no reason to do any better than necessary.

The same thing went for the rest of the, a routine, lifeless day. Followed by a routine lifeless afternoon of loneliness and boredom, and a routine, lifeless dinner was up next.

Despite her lag in academics, Shinobu's cooking skills had not declined, and the rest of the inn was quite enjoying it. Though, sitting at the table at that moment, everyone had to admit that without Keitaro and Naru around, things were pretty dull.

Shinobu ate modestly, and was the first to ask to be excused. She then preceded to lay in her room, doing little besides thinking. She needed to think, and these days she had more than enough time to do so.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in!" Shinobu said.

Haruka stepped in "Got a minute?"

Shinobu nodded "Always. What seems to be the problem?"

"I should be asking you that bquestion." She nonchalantly said "Your grades are dropping, you seem to be getting distant, and sad. You're not well Shiobu."

"I'm fine." Shinobu insisted.

"Oh come on," protested Haruka "Rarely do I ask things like this the least you can do is be truthful with me."

"I'm fine, really." Shiobu still persisted.

Haruka ignored this "It's about Keitaro isn't it? Don't try and fool me, I haven't seen you happy once since he's been gone."

"What?" Shinobu blushed "Why would you say something like that!"

"Listen, Shinobu," Haruka sat down "I know how you're feeling better than you realize. Keitaro was really special to you, he made you feel good. But now you had to let him go, and that's hard. But in time I'm sure you'll find someone who makes you feel like he did, who fills the space he left behind."

Shinobu nodded "Thanks, but really, I'm fine."

Haruka sighed "Well you know where to find me if you need me." And she left.

Haruka helped, but Shinobu knew she could never understand. People who understood could never even be of any help. She didn't need someone to understand, she needed someone to help. She needed someone to save her. She was beginning to accept that no one would.

After getting up, showering, and what not, Shinobu found that Motoko and Su were sick in bed with bad fevers. Motoko was herself, reluctantly writhing in bed, wanting to get up and go to school, and Su simply looked like a wilted flower. Very well, she thought, I guess I'll just walk alone today.

But it wasn't that easy. Without Motoko, the seniors began to pick on her again. They began to circle around her like vultures, twice as many as yesterday, and twice as feisty.

"Your Kendo friend isn't here to help you." Taunted the senior from yesterday. They pushed her back and forth, slapped her around, and at one point she could have sworn one even fondeled her.

Finally a senior pushed her to the ground in the middle of the circle. They were a little outside school, so there was not many around, he could get away with much. She didn't want to know what they had planned, and to this day she doesn't. A swift kick on the head was landed on the senior that had pushed her down. It was a boy, soon followed by another boy.

The first one, the shorter of the two, spoke up "You take the right ones, I take the left?"

The big one nodded. They had 5 to 8 seniors to deal with each. They street fought with a great deal of skill, right hooks, blocks, and punches in all the right places. Within a minute or so, all the seniors the seniors they had been fighting were down for the count.

The first boy, the shorter one, offered his hand to Shinobu. If the pleasing thrill of being saved wasn't enough to absolutely charm her, this boy was. Other than the lack of glasses, he reminded her a great deal of Keitaro, simply by look and by presence, though he had more of a grace to him than Keitaro. He had scuffy brown hair, blue eyes, and a turtleneck black shortsleeve shirt that strectched a bit over modest muscles, and black pants.

"Need a hand?" he asked, still with an outstretched hand. He siled a warm smile, and for once in a long time she couldn't help but smile too. He had a very comforting presence to him.

Needless to say, she gladly took his hand and he helped her up.

"You didn't have to do that you know." She noted.

"Yeah I did." He assured her "Seeing seniors pick on you like that, I couldn't help it. They think they own this school, makes one sick." He smiled again "And a face like yours is not one I like to see so sad."

"Shinobu turned scarlet "Thank you." She bowed "I'm Shinobu Maehura."

"Nik Nobraves, class of '08." He motioned to the taller kid, with curly short hair and a leather jacket "That's Jake, class of '06."

"Nice meeting you both." Shinobu said "I have to get to class now."

"Wait," Nik said as she began to start walking "You're not walking alone are you?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Just not safe is all." He explained "What room are you going to?"

"80."

"Oh, I'm going to 85, I'll walk you." He said farewell to Jake , and they began to walk.

"You don't usually go to school by yourself do you?" Nik asked.

Shinobu shook her head "No I'm friends with Koalla Su and Motoko Aoyama."

"Ah!" Nik seemed shocked "You're friends with that crazy Kendo girl! She scares the shit out of me!"

Shinobu laughed "She's not that bad once you get to know her."

"I'll bet." Nik said "So I guess you live around here?"

Shinobu nodded "The Hinata apartments."

"Oh wow." Nik exclaimed "You don't live that far away from me."

They walked up to room 80.

"Well, I have to get to class."  
Shinobu explained.

"Alright, well see ya!" and Nik walked off.

Shinobu walked into class, suprising them with the smile thay had all forgotten.

Well, I'd say I did pretty good for myself. This chapter is just an appetizer, next chapter will be even better. Please R R!


	2. Tension Rising

Thank you all for waiting patiently, but before we start let me take the time to respond to some of my reviewers:

BigFics: Yeah, my stories tend to get weak toward the beginning, but I'm sure you'll agree this chapter is a lot better than my last one. Don't worry, I'll make sure Shinobu will go through a great deal of confusion. Thank you for your constructive criticism.

Haruhiku: Thanks; hope your idea works out.

Myself: First, let me say that there is no proof that the character Nik is based on me. Secondly, I think you and I both have different views of what is a 'good fic'. However, I do thank you for bringing these thing to my attention, I will see if I can work in your concerns.

Chapter 2: Tensions Rising 

****

It was a smooth period, Shinobu understood everything, she felt a lot more clear-headed, and thus could take in a lot more information, and could get a better understanding.

After school, she found Nik and Jake again. Jake, as expected, was giving Nik a hard time about something or other, and attempting to get him in a headlock.

Shinobu laughed, "What are you two going on about?"

Jake removed his arm from around Nik's neck, looking as fakely innocent as anyone ever possibly could "Nothing…" he decided to change the subject "What's this I hear about you being friends with Motoko Aoyama?"

"Yeah," Shinobu explained "I've known her for quite a while. She lives in the Hinata Apartments. I first met her when-"

But she stopped in mid-sentence. The first time she had met her was when she had Keitaro on the ground with a sword at his neck. Now she had gotten to thinking about Keitaro, after Nik had done such a good job of making her forget him.

She suddenly felt very confused.

"Something wrong?" asked Nik.

Shinobu hastily shook her head "No, I'm fine, but I think I'd better get going home." She began to walk home.

"Well, bye then." Nik said.

"Bye.' Shinobu said quietly.

"Put in a good word about me to Motoko!" requested Jake.

"I'll see what I can do!" and Shinobu walked off.

"Dude, you're a dumbass!" insisted Jake to Nik "Just tell her you like her already!"

"Easy for you to say!" Nik complained. Nik wasn't the most social person in the world, nor was he much of one to ever admit his feelings. This didn't particularly annoy Jake, but he never missed a chance to give Nik a hard time about something.

"Let's get outtalk here." Nik requested "I've heard the seniors are kind of hostile toward the lower classmen after school nowadays."

"Alright, let's go."

Shinobu got home safely, and was cheerfully greeted by Kitsune.

"Hey Shinobu." Greeted Kitsune.

"How are Su and Motoko doing?" Shinobu asked.

"Reasonably well." Reported Kitsune "They should be back up and at 'em by the day after tommora'."

"That's good." Shinobu began to walk towards her room.

Kitsune looked a little puzzled.

Haruka walked over to her "What's up?"

"It's Shinobu." Kitsune explained, "She seemed…pleasant, in a better mood than her usual self."

At this, Haruka too was puzzled.

It was obvious at dinner that Shinobu was acting, well, differently. She looked as confusing on the outside as she was on the inside. She was cheerful and light because of her new boost of confidence given to her by Nik, but also she still held some of the weight of Keitaro. She felt so confused, so torn in two, and so she looked on the outside.

The dinner table was even less chattery than usual with Su and Motoko's absence (they were resting.)

"So, how was school?" Haruka attempted to make conversation.

"It was great!" responded Shinobu.

This was surprising, The most they could ever get Shinobu to say about school was 'it was okay' or even the occasional 'it was pretty good'. 'It was great' was quite unexpected.

"Oh?" Haruka was interested "And what was so great about it?"

"Oh, nothing." Shinobu blushed a little, thinking about Nik.

"I knew it!" Kitsune exclaimed, "It's a boy isn't it? Shinobu's got herself a crush!"

Shinobu blushed a little deeper.

"Is this true?" asked Haruka.

"What?" Shinobu looked a little suspicious "No, nothing like that. I just met- never mind, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Fine, but you know we're going to find out sooner or later." Assured Kitsune.

Shinobu continued to eat, and then went up to her room to do her homework. Most of it was pretty easy being as she had grasped the concepts really well in class.

After that she preceded to lie in bed before going to sleep, thinking about Keitaro. She had felt so good before because of Nik, but now she wondered if she should.

Oh well, she thought; better not think too much on it. So she just looked forward to seeing Nik tomorrow. She envisioned his warm smile in her head, and this comforted her.

And so she went to sleep.

Another school day went by, rather similar to the last. Shinobu had now taken to hanging out with Jake and Nik at lunch, and before and after school. They were becoming fast friends.

But greater conflicts were rising at a more external level. There were conflicts between the freshman of the class of '08, and the seniors of the class of '05. The fact that Nik had beaten up a group of seniors didn't help the cause, and the seniors had it out for Shinobu, and they weren't too fond of Motoko or Jake as well.

Shinobi got some of the backlash of this walking home from school. Just as was her luck, seniors once again surrounded her. This seemed to be a pattern.

"You got a lot of guts having your friends beat up that group of seniors twice." Said a very angry senior of the group "Those were friends of mine, and they didn't appreciate that very much."

Shinobu recoiled in fear "What do you want?"

The senior grinned and punched his fist into his hand "Your bruises will serve as a warning to your friends, not to mess with us."

He pushed her against a wall and pulled back his fist. There were two seniors accompanying him, so it was going to be a slaughter, she had no chance of making it out.

Luckily, our hero was just in time. Before the senior could land his first punch, his arm was pulled back and twisted behind his back. He let out a cry of agony, and was let go of. He turned around.

"This is none of your-" he was aggravated at the site of Nik "You bastard!" he attempted to punch him in the face, but was blocked, and pushed away.

"What's your problem, man?" the senior asked with extreme attitude "You're just looking for trouble aren't you!"

Nik looked pissed, in his own subtle way, "Forgive me for not allowing you to hurt a good friend of mine, but it's not easy to watch."

"Mess with us and you're going down!" he threatened as he began to walk away "That's a promise!"

Nik clenched his fists "Picking on those who aren't as strong…makes me sick.," he mumbled just loud enough for Shinobu to hear him. He turned to her "You ok?"

Shinobu nodded, very happy "I thought for sure they were going to… oh, thank god for you Nik." She threw her arms around him in relief.

Nik blushed a little "Hey, knock it off would ya?"

Shinobu let go "Fine…"

"No, I don't mean, I'm just not much of one for physical contact." Nik realized he was just digging his hole deeper "Well, I'd better get home, see ya."

"Wait!" Shinobu insisted "You aren't going to make me walk home alone are you?'

Nik hadn't considered this, but making Shinobu go home was pretty rude, and dangerous.

"Tell you what," Nik proposed "How about you hang out at my house for a while?"

Shinobu was waiting from him to ask this "Sure, that sounds great."

So they walked a block or so until they got to Nik's house. The Hinata apartments were just a few blocks away, so Shinobu would hang out at Nik's house until it was safe to go home.

There was nobody at Nik's house. This was the way Nik liked it, he didn't like the possibility of people listening to his conversations, or watching him doing whatever he happened to be doing.

"Well if you don't mind I think I'll be going to my room to play some games."Nik went up the stairs, Shinobu following.

Nik sat on his bed, picked up his wireless Xbox controller and turned on his Xbox.

Shinobu sat next to him, looking at the TV "What are you playing?"

"An awesome game." Nik said enthusiastically "It's called Fable."

"Oh, I've heard of this game." Shinobu said "It's supposed to be really in depth."

"It is," Nik was pleased and a little surprised to hear she knew what Fable was "So you're a gamer are you?"

"Not really," confessed Shinobu "I try and keep up with games as best I can, but I don't own any major game systems."

"Well, you're welcome to hang out and play mine anytime you like." Nik assured.

"Thanks."

They played for a while, entertained by the millions of gags in the game. Then a knock came at the door.

"Come in!" Nik yelled.

A large guy with a jacket came in "Oh hi Shinobu." He was genuinely surprised to see her. He turned to Nik a sophomoric look in his eyes "What are you two doing up here?"

"Get your head out of the gutter!" Nik scolded, "What do you need?"

"Just giving you your CD back." Jake handed Nik a burnt copy of "American Idiot" by Green Day. "I ripped all the songs I needed." He looked around the room "Well, I'll let you two get back to what you were doing." He giggled and left.

Nik rolled his eyes.

Shinobu laughed, "He's kind of funny."

"Yeah, but his gags can get pretty old." Complained Nik.

Shinobu looked at the clock "I think the streets will be safe, I'd better get back home."

"Okay." Nik fare welled her "See ya tomorrow."

And so she left Nik's house, and began walking home.

Yeah, I know that last part was a little unnecessary, but I had to find some way to fit Jake in before the chapter ended! So review, and if it works out I'll try and muster all the creativity I can and make chapter 3.


End file.
